In general, there is a public mobile communication network for connecting an incoming call from a wireless terminal (UE; user equipment) to another terminal or device.
In such a communication system, so-called phone number conversion is performed during a call for an emergency organization, etc., for converting the phone number of an emergency call, such as a police telephone number 110 or a fire department telephone number 119, into a phone number of emergency organization allocated in advance in accordance with current location information of a wireless terminal which is a caller.
In the call for emergency organization, detailed location information, such as latitude/longitude information of a wireless terminal which is a caller, is notified to an emergency organization communication apparatus of a called party.
A 3G (third generation: third generation mobile communication) network will be described as an example of an existing public mobile communication network for connecting UE, such as a cell phone, to another terminal or device.
As shown in FIG. 1, a system based on an existing 3G network is connected to HLR (Home Location Register) 10 used in an IMS (IP Multimedia subsystem) network, emergency organization server (ERS; Emergency Register Server) 11 for notifying location information to emergency organization communication apparatus (described as emergency organization apparatus in FIG. 1) 14, and GMSC (Gateway Mobile Switching Center) 12 as a gateway for connecting the system based on the existing 3G network to fixed network (PSTN; Public Switched Telephone Network) 13 as an example of a public communication network.
The system based on the existing 3G network houses UE 1 to be connected for communication and connects UE 1 to one from among HLR 10, ERS 11, and GMSC 12 described above. The system based on the existing 3G network includes UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) 93 by Node-B 91 and RNC 92 and MSC (Mobile Switching Center) 94 comprising VLR 95.
UE, Node-B, RNC, MSC, VLR, HLR, and GMSC in the existing 3G network are apparatuses that execute processes compliant with 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), and the description of specific functions and processing operations will be omitted.
Next, a flow of location information transmission used for a call to an emergency organization communication apparatus, etc., in the existing 3G network will be described with reference to FIG. 2.
When there is a call from UE 1, RAN (Radio Access Network) 93, such as ULTRAN, transmits SAI (Service Area Identification), which is information for identifying the location of Node-B that houses UE 1 of the caller by wireless communication or for identifying the location of an assembly of base stations including the Node-B, to MSC 94 by using a RANAP (Radio Access Network Application Part) message. Hereinafter, SAI will be referred to as first location information.
SAI (first location information) denotes values predetermined by a system operator and is defined in a format including parameters MCC (Mobile Country Code), MNC (Mobile Network Code), LAC (Location Area Code), and SAC (Service Area Code) as illustrated in FIG. 3.
Receiving SAI, MSC 94 stores SAI in VLR 95 in association with base station identification information as information for identifying the base station connected with the caller and transmits SAI to HLR 10 by using a MAP (Mobile Application Part) message.
MSC 94 performs so-called phone number conversion for converting a predetermined phone number, such as an emergency telephone number 110 or 119, into a phone number allocated in advance in accordance with current location information of caller UE 1. If the phone number transmitted from UE 1 is included in target phone numbers for the phone number conversion, the phone number is converted into a called party's phone number by phone number conversion, and the call is connected to the converted called party's phone number.
UE 1 transfers GEOarea (Geographical Area) including latitude/longitude information of UE 1 to RAN 93, and RAN 93 transmits GEOarea to MSC 94 by using a RANAP message. MSC 94 stores GEOarea in VLR 95, and if the called party of UE 1 is an emergency organization communication apparatus, transmits GEOarea to ERS 11 along with a MAP message. Hereinafter, GEOarea will be referred to as second location information.
GEOarea (second location information) is defined in a format as illustrated in FIG. 4 and denotes location information including latitude/longitude information of a sender apparatus.
Next, an operation of UE 1 calling an emergency organization communication apparatus in the existing 3G network will be described with reference to FIG. 5.
UE 1 first transfers a connection request (SETUP) to RAN 93. When receiving the message of SETUP from RAN 93, MSC 94 transmits CALLPROC as a reply to UE 1 and transmits an IAM message to GMSC 12. In this way, call control is performed for emergency organization communication apparatus 14 through fixed network 13.
MSC 94 transmits a location measurement request to UTRAN 93 by using a RANAP message to cause UE 1 to measure location information including latitude/longitude information. When receiving the location information from UE 1, Node-B 91 transmits GEOarea to MSC 94. When receiving GEOarea from Node-B 91, MSC 94 transmits GEOarea to ERS 11 by using a MAP message. ERS 11 transmits GEOarea received from MSC 94 to emergency organization communication apparatus 14. This allows a call between UE 1 and emergency organization communication apparatus 14.
When the end of the call (DISC; Disconnect) is received from UE 1, MSC 94 notifies the end of the call to ERS 11 by using a MAP message.
After the end of the call, if emergency organization communication apparatus 14 transmits a location information request to ERS 11 before the elapse of time predetermined by Timer of ERS 11, ERS 11 inquires of HLR 10 for an acquisition location for acquiring location information of requested UE by using a MAP message. ERS 11 identifies the acquisition location based on a reply to the inquiry and transmits, by using a MAP message, the location information request to MSC 94 identified as the acquisition location. When receiving the location information request from ERS 11, MSC 94 causes UE 1 to perform location measurement by using a RANAP message.
In this way, the system based on the existing 3G network causes UE 1 to measure the location information including the latitude/longitude information, and when MSC 94 receives GEOarea transmitted from Node-B 91, transmits, by using a MAP message, GEOarea received by MSC 94 to emergency organization communication apparatus 14 through ERS 11.
Meanwhile, in a technique related to the present invention, a radio network controller (RNC) acquires specific information that is information specific to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and transfers the specific information to a Node, such as a wireless base station, to allow the Node that has received the information to use the specific information. An example is disclosed in National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2007-511185 (hereinafter, called Patent Document 1).
In recent years, the possibility of a technique called a femto cell that is connected to a mobile communication core network through a wired line installed at home or office has attracted attention.
In the femto cell, a femto base station (Femto AP) that covers a narrow communication area of about several dozen meters in radius wirelessly connects to UE to connect UE to a mobile communication core network, and the femto cell mainly covers an indoor communication area such as in a house or office. This allows covering the communication area without spending much money on the infrastructure development of an existing macro cell base station.